Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit

EternalMetal said:
Took me four times listening to it before I no longer deemed it subpar. Though the more I listen to it, the more I realize this is a record that cannot be consumed in one or two listens. I still dont know exactly what is going on in the beginning blast beat of Into the Painted Grey, but the way it is done enhances the atmospheric effect so much that I am convinced that this guy knows what he is doing despite the end result sounding like potential amatuerish play.
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You're almost there, a few or maybe a dozen more listens and that firt part of that song will finally make sense. Unlike into phagist who indirectly flaunts his feeble understanding of LAYERED music by calling that part.....well....read the post;

" Plus the opening of the first real song is garbage wtf kind of riff/blastbeat is that."
 
Im waiting for my CD to come in the mail before I analyze it any further. I think its a blast where the bass drum lags the snare, but the cymbalwork is so open and busy I cant really distinguish it too well with a 192kbps promo rip (which might even be worse).

Dont get me wrong though, I think the cd is fantastic. I was just emphasizing the point that I found it really lackluster on only one or two listens, and that the beginning blast really did stand out as an "either awful or genius" part for a bit. Once I figured out the atmosphere I found this albums appeal.

Gotta stop being so impatient and settling on those god awful promo rips the second the album leaks :x
 
I finally got it in the mail yesterday..I've only heard it twice so far but I honestly don't know what to think of this album...loved the intro and some parts were really good and way different but other parts annoyed me. The drums sound really bad throughout the whole album and some of the guitar parts sound like they were done in one take and amateurish. Some of the guitar tones didn't sound Agalloch-y and kinda generic. But the post-rocky and acoustic parts rule.

I definitely have to listen to it more.
 
I really have no idea why people are complaining about the drums. This is the first time in Agalloch history where the drums are actually fucking incredible. Aesop Dekker is easily one of the best drummers in American metal.

This album is now probably my favorite Agalloch album after I've had it for a few weeks. EASILY their best song writing. By far.
 
LuminousAether said:
I really have no idea why people are complaining about the drums. This is the first time in Agalloch history where the drums are actually fucking incredible. Aesop Dekker is easily one of the best drummers in American metal.

This album is now probably my favorite Agalloch album after I've had it for a few weeks. EASILY their best song writing. By far.
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Wow. You're really caught up in band worship!

No one is complaining about the technical performance aspect of the drumming. The problem is with the recording of the drumming.
 
I bought the album on Friday and have listened to it 4 or 5 times since. It's surprisingly energetic in parts, and the post rock is still very much present. I could definitely hear the Godspeed influence, especially on "Black Lake Nidstang". Marrow of the Spirit has earned a spot in my top 3 for the year.

The drums aren't anything special, by the way. They don't stand out from other post/black/doom/folk/dark/whatever metal drums, and that's what one's come to expect from Agalloch.
 
Hubster said:
Wow. You're really caught up in band worship!

No one is complaining about the technical performance aspect of the drumming. The problem is with the recording of the drumming.
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I'm not sure if you're listening to a low quality leak that is marring the experience or what, but the drums really come through well for what they need to do in serving the overall sound. The production in that department was quite intentional, and it effectively did what I'm fairly certain they set out to do. I'm sorry they come across so poorly for you though.

This is coming from a guy with a music engineering / production background and degree. Just saying.
 
I just wanted to let everybody know that I've decided to make available the interview that I conducted with John Haughm in December of 2009 on the blog of my magazine. It was originally published in April 2010 in the first issue, but due to the scarcity of said issue, I've decided to start making the exclusive content available online. Please read and enjoy the interview while keeping in mind that the information is of course outdated.

http://thehereticstorch.blogspot.com/2011/01/against-grain-john-haughm-of-agalloch.html
 
Excellent interview! One of the best I've read in quite a while, partly because you seemed to avoid the generic questions and John actually gave fairly detailed and intelligent answers.

:kickass:
 
Listening to it now. Quite different than their norm. I like it alright, but it's hard to think of it as Agalloch. The Watcher's Monolith starts out very Agaloch but then changes to what sounds like boring Melodic Death Metal with low distortion with a hint of Agalloch every one in a while.
 
It took me several listens but I fucking love that album now. Its incredibly atmospheric, especially songs like Black Lake Nidstång and Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires. I'd say its on par with The Mantle too. And definitely my fave album of 2010
 
Draele said:
Excellent interview! One of the best I've read in quite a while, partly because you seemed to avoid the generic questions and John actually gave fairly detailed and intelligent answers.

:kickass:
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Thanks, Draele. It is definitely my intention to present interviews that are atypically focused on certain aspects of music that I find are usually overlooked in interviews that I find important. I've been really lucky so far in my interviews (John Brenner of Revelation, Gunnar of Faustcoven, and S.T. Joshi, a Lovecraft/weird fiction/atheist writer/commentator/critic being the others) that I've gotten very intelligent and well thought out responses so far, and Haughm was certainly no exception.

Any other feedback on the interview, guys?
 
Excellent interview, Dodens. I really enjoyed reading that. Clearly, you have a very unique approach to conducting band interviews and it seems to elicit really interesting answers from the bands. Compare, for instance, your interview with Agalloch, to this recent one done by Exclaim!:

http://exclaim.ca/Interviews/WebExclusive/agalloch

The difference is night and day in terms of the substance of the interview. So yeah, well done.

Jon sounded really bitter when recounting his experience with TER, understandably so given the story. He also came off as quite elitist in terms of his musical taste and general disdain for contemporary metal developments (postmetal, folk metal). It made him sound like a bit of a douche, to be honest. But I appreciate Agalloch's musical integrity and I suppose that is largely the result of Jon's, shall we say, "discerning" taste.
 
Dodens Grav said:
Thanks, Draele. It is definitely my intention to present interviews that are atypically focused on certain aspects of music that I find are usually overlooked in interviews that I find important. I've been really lucky so far in my interviews (John Brenner of Revelation, Gunnar of Faustcoven, and S.T. Joshi, a Lovecraft/weird fiction/atheist writer/commentator/critic being the others) that I've gotten very intelligent and well thought out responses so far, and Haughm was certainly no exception.

Any other feedback on the interview, guys?
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Those are the exact type of questions I enjoy reading about in interviews with music artists. The questions regarding inspiration and songwriting warranted interesting responses. Overall, excellent interview.
 
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